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3 Signs You Need to Hire a Legal Assistant Now (FR)

3 Signs You Need to Hire a Legal Assistant Now (FR)

Par Robert Half le 27 octobre, 2016 à 21:00

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No matter what size your legal practice, increasing efficiency while keeping costs down is likely a top — and ongoing — priority in today's highly competitive legal marketplace. However, the pressure to control costs and respond to changing client dynamics may prevent you from hiring a law clerk when necessary. That could be a big mistake.

But how do you know when it's time to consider hiring a law clerk? Here are three signs that your law firm is in need of one:

1. Time management issues

You are spending too much time on administrative work that doesn't grow revenue for the firm.

If you're regularly handling tasks that prevent you from focusing on the work your clients will pay top dollar for, you should consider hiring a legal assistant. It's especially common for attorneys who run their own practice or work in a small firm to think, "Well, it's probably easier and faster if I just do these things myself." But remember that every hour (or even fraction of an hour) you spend on activities such as updating files or corresponding with clients instead of actual casework, client consultation and generating new business erodes your firm's bottom line.

2. Overloading the team

You are over-delegating to your team, and they're getting overloaded.

Expecting busy and experienced lawyers in your organization to routinely take on duties that would be accomplished more effectively by hiring a legal assistant can hurt their productivity, too. It also undermines your law firm's ability to build revenue in two ways:

Lawyers can't focus on work that your firm can bill more for (see Sign No. 1).

Lawyers have even less time to help the firm build new business and expand growing practice areas.

Another potential side effect of not hiring a legal assistant: retention issues. If you ask skilled lawyers on your team to assume responsibilities they do not find fulfilling and that do not make the best use of their abilities, you risk losing valued staff.

3. Unhappy clients

Your clients are complaining about service quality.

This is the biggest red flag of all. If you and/or your existing team members can't juggle both your primary duties and tasks that can be just as well handled by hiring a legal assistant, client service quality will inevitably suffer. And it won't take long for your clients to notice — and possibly decide to move their business elsewhere